Secret Service investigating hack targeting new director

April 04, 2013|Reuters

The Secret Service said on Thursday it was investigating the claim that new Director Julia Pierson's personal information had been hacked and published on a website, another in a string of such incidents against top officials including first lady Michelle Obama and CIA Director John Brennan.

The information on the website included a Social Security number, phone numbers, and a credit report that includes accounts with The Home Depot, Sears, and Macy's.

It was unclear how much of the data that appeared on www.exposed.re was accurate or who posted it. The website appeared to have information about other government officials and celebrities that had been published online previously at another Internet address, www.exposed.su.

"We are investigating and we are aware of the matter," a Secret Service spokesman said without commenting further.

Pierson was sworn into office on March 27 and is the first woman to head the agency which protects the president.

An FBI spokeswoman said "we're aware of the reports" but she would not say whether the FBI was investigating them.

The Internet domain country code for the island of Reunion is .re, while .su was the domain code for the Soviet Union.